Transport Workers Union

WASHINGTON -- The New York City-based Transport Workers Union of America endorsed John Edwards on Thursday, saying the former North Carolina senator was the most electable of the Democratic presidential candidates. Edwards was to be in New York City to accept the endorsement. In a statement, he said the Transport Workers "keep the city moving and help keep New Yorkers safe."

AMR Corp. has notified some 11,000 mechanics and ground workers, including nearly 900 at O'Hare International Airport , that their jobs could be eliminated as part of the company's bankruptcy restructuring, although the actual number of layoffs will be far fewer. Of the 11,159 members of the Transport Workers Union who received notices this week, about 40 percent — nearly 4,500 — will eventually be laid off, said company spokesman Bruce Hicks. AMR, the corporate parent of American Airlines , was required by law to issue notices to all employees who could be affected.

DISCORD. Eastern Airlines' flight attendants are threatening to strike over cuts in pay and benefits, union officials said. Eastern has offered the Transport Workers Union a package that would reduce total compensation by 40 percent, union leaders said Thursday. Eastern said other packages would be offered to other unions later, but the flight attendants said that the Miami- based airline plans to leave other union contracts untouched and is singling them out for severe cuts. John Kerrigan, director of the Transport Workers Union's air transport division, said he has advised local union leaders to make contingency plans for a strike because Eastern wants to ''take on the flight attendants.

AMR Corp. , parent of American Airlines , this week notified some 11,000 mechanics and groundworkers, including nearly 900 at O'Hare International Airport , that their jobs could be eliminated as part of the company's bankruptcy restructuring. The actual number of layoffs will be far fewer. Of the 11,159 members of the Transport Workers Union who received notices, fewer than 40 percent -- or 4,500 -- will be laid off, said AMR spokesman Bruce Hicks. The company was required by law to issue notices to all employees who could be affected.

Eastern Air Lines plans to hire 700 more flight attendants to staff a planned increase in flights throughout the United States, Europe and Latin America this year, company officials said. The announcement came three days after the Transport Workers Union, which represents Eastern's 6,000 flight attendants, ratified a new agreement with the airline.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority and the Transport Workers Union on Tuesday each offered a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of a token clerk's killer. Robert LeBright, 60, was shot Monday as he emptied the turnstiles at a subway station.

DOMENIC DICLERICO, 64, a former president of a powerful transportation union, died Monday after he apparently shot himself while playing Russian roulette in his home. DiClerico was president of Local 234 of the Transport Workers Union from 1965-74 and from 1980-83. The union represents workers with the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority.

NEW YORK - Mayor Rudolph Giuliani said Monday that he has been assured that labor talks with transit workers are making progress, and - at the state transit agency's request - he has delayed seeking a court injunction barring a strike. The contract between the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and the Transport Workers Union Local 100, which affects 33,000 employees, expires at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday.

PHILADELPHIA - Hundreds of thousands of Philadelphia-area commuters braced for a possible transit strike today, as union and management officials failed to resume talks Sunday on the eve of a threatened walkout. The Transport Workers Union maintained that its 5,200 members would strike at noon today unless the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority came up with a better contract proposal than one on the table when talks broke off Saturday.

PICKET LINE. Union workers at Pan Am World Services Inc. in Cape Canaveral are walking informational picket lines this week in Brevard County. Members of Transport Workers Union Local 525, which represents about 700 Pan Am workers who provide ground-service support at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, are staging the pickets to protest their lack of progress in obtaining a contract. The company and the union broke off contract negotiations in late July.

A union blamed Pinnacle Airlines Corp.'s brand-name partner Delta Air Lines for putting the financial squeeze on Pinnacle employees. The United Steelworkers, which represents about 2,800 Pinnacle flight attendants and ground services workers, lashed out at Delta in a bargaining update to its members. The update came as Pinnacle opened negotiations with three unions representing about 5,600 employees and detailed how a Chapter 11 bankruptcy would affect nonunion employees. The USW said the company proposed to take back certain gains from a recently negotiated agreement with flight attendants because of a cost-cutting imperative established by Pinnacle's contract with Delta.

American Airlines' three largest unions are asking its board of directors to seriously consider a merger with US Airways now instead of waiting for the airline to emerge from bankruptcy. The request was made in an "open letter" advertisement published in today's Star-Telegram (Page 11A) and other newspapers. It is addressed to the board of directors of Fort Worth-based AMR Corp., American's parent. "The 'standalone' business plan that AMR management has presented as part of our airline's Chapter 11 restructuring has been greeted with almost universal skepticism by industry analysts.

WASHINGTON -- The New York City-based Transport Workers Union of America endorsed John Edwards on Thursday, saying the former North Carolina senator was the most electable of the Democratic presidential candidates. Edwards was to be in New York City to accept the endorsement. In a statement, he said the Transport Workers "keep the city moving and help keep New Yorkers safe."

NEW YORK -- Workers at two bus lines prepared Sunday for a strike that could affect 50,000 commuters while New Yorkers and tourists did their holiday shopping in advance of a possible citywide transit shutdown. With a threatened strike less than 48 hours away, Transport Workers Union and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority officials resumed negotiations late Sunday afternoon after reporting little progress during the weekend.

Union leaders at American Airlines on Thursday denounced the company's disclosure that it had set up a trust fund to protect top executives' pensions if the company went into bankruptcy and that it plans to pay generous bonuses to several executives for staying with the company until 2005. Union officials said they might not agree to concessions their members had voted to give management, even if that meant forcing the airline to file for bankruptcy protection. The new problem arose one day after American appeared to have secured $1.8 billion in annual labor concessions, which it said were necessary for it to stay out of bankruptcy court.

NEW YORK -- Former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani might have provoked city transit workers to strike during the latest contract talks had he still been in office, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said. The mayor told the Daily News that Giuliani wouldn't have tolerated being told to "shut up" by Transport Workers Union chief Roger Toussaint and might have reacted by becoming confrontational, further angering the union representing subway and bus workers. "Under Rudy, after Toussaint said `shut up,' Rudy would have gone and had a battle, and you probably would have had a strike," Bloomberg is quoted as saying in the newspaper's Sunday editions.

Eastern Airlines' directors approved a measure Friday to discourage an unfriendly takeover attempt of the financially strapped carrier. Jerry Cosley, spokesman at Eastern's Miami headquarters, denied that the measure was designed to prevent the airline's three unions from buying the company. ''We don't know what their intent is,'' Cosley said in reference to the Transport Workers Union, the Air Line Pilots Association and the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers.

Delta Air Lines' 10,800 fleet service workers rejected an attempt to unionize in ballots counted Friday, after a heated contest in which both sides said they were best-equipped to get employees better money and job benefits. Only 1,868 - or 17.3 percent - of eligible ramp, reservations and customer service workers returned ballots to the National Mediation Board supporting the Transport Workers Union. ``That's obviously a pretty sound defeat for the TWU,'' said Delta spokeswoman Cindy Kurczewski.

NEW YORK - Mayor Rudolph Giuliani said Monday that he has been assured that labor talks with transit workers are making progress, and - at the state transit agency's request - he has delayed seeking a court injunction barring a strike. The contract between the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and the Transport Workers Union Local 100, which affects 33,000 employees, expires at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday.